


kissing it better

by izukillme



Series: Avatar WLW Week 2020 [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avatar WLW Week 2020, Canon Compliant, Cheek Kisses, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, Non-Binary Tenzin (Avatar), Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Scars, Trans Pema (Avatar), also lin decides 'fuck the police' uwu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26281660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izukillme/pseuds/izukillme
Summary: Lin and Pema talk after The Incident with Suyin.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Pema
Series: Avatar WLW Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902349
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	kissing it better

**Author's Note:**

> gay fluff soft that is all. sorry this is late lmao. i kind of stole [mae's](https://transtenzin.tumblr.com/) headcanons for nb tenzin and trans pema xD

Lin rubs a hand over the new scar on her cheek. She’d refused to let it heal through Waterbending, and now it stings, raw with freshness—just the way Lin herself stings on the inside. All pulpy and hurt and vulnerable, covered in red lashes because she’d let herself get hurt.

She can’t think about how she got it without tearing up, so she doesn’t. But there’s a layer of permafrost between her and… that person now, and living in the same house won’t melt it any quicker. If, of course, it gets melted at all.

Lin taps her fingers against the wooden patio she’s sitting on and swings her legs. A mess of thoughts swirls in her mind like a hurricane before she can bring it under the iron control she’s so famous for, and then she is lost in her own head. 

She’d wanted to do _good,_ joining the police force. But that gang she’d apprehended really hadn’t done anything wrong. All they’d wanted was to feed themselves, to stay alive. Lin had killed that chance. And her mother had _fudged the report_ to save her own reputation—

“Lin,” says a soft voice, “are you quite all right?”

Lin starts, thrown back into the present all at once. She blinks the wetness out of her eyes— _when did that happen?—_ and her vision clears to reveal a lovely young woman with a worried expression on her face.

“Pema,” Lin blurts. “Hello. Um, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

A lie. This is a party at Aang’s house; Pema is a close friend of Tenzin. Those two spend all their time together, and it makes Lin want to throw something. (Mostly at Pema. Tenzin just awakens these unpleasant contractions of her stomach and makes her fists curl. She can barely talk straight in front of them. S— _that person_ thinks she has a crush on them, but the very idea brings bile to Lin’s throat.)

Pema just smiles, sweet and gentle and giving, and _oh it’s so easy for you isn’t it?_ is all that goes through Lin’s head. She hates herself for it the very next moment because Pema clearly sought her out, tearing herself away from her darling Tenzin to come and check on sour old Lin.

“I didn’t either. You usually don’t come to these things,” Pema says, sitting down next to Lin. She places her hand over Lin’s, and for some reason Lin’s heart picks up a faster beat than ever.

“I… had some free time.” Technically. She’s been on extended break from the police for about a week now. The job—hell, the _idea_ of that job itself—is starting to leave an awful taste in her mouth.

“That’s nice. I’m glad you came.” The warmth in Pema’s words is unmissable. It’s almost like she means it. Lin wants to snort (wants to cry), because _of course she doesn’t, silly girl, who would ever care about bitter Lin Beifong?_

Instead, she says flatly, “Thanks.” Short and to the point, just like everything about Lin is. It’s at this point that people get the hint. That they realise Lin’s onto the manipulator and liar behind all the honey, and that she doesn’t want to talk to them. Pema clearly doesn’t get that hint, because she tightens her grip around Lin’s hand and doesn’t move. Lin grunts—this is the farthest she has had to go with anyone—and still Pema doesn’t leave.

“If you want me to go, you should tell me,” Pema says, and if Lin isn’t wrong there’s a little note of sadness in her voice. “I like you, Lin, but you don’t seem to like my company.”

Lin doesn’t know what she’s saying before (or even _when_ ) she says it, but it all just spills out like intestines spill out when a person’s belly is slashed at the right place.

“It’s not you. I like your company too,”—and Lin knows she means it even if she doesn’t want to—“but it’s just been a difficult few days. I’m all up in my head lately.”

“I heard. The… cops,” Pema’s mouth twists a bit as she says that word, “and your sister.”

“Yeah,” Lin admits, sighing softly and tilting her head up to stare at the night sky.

“It can’t have been easy. Now you’re re-evaluating everything you ever thought you knew, right?”

“Yes. It’s just… I don’t know. I don’t know who I am anymore.”

The Lin of old never would’ve talked this much to anyone, not even transactional conversation. But it’s easy around Pema. She makes you _want_ to talk, and she’s a good listener.

“I get it. It’s hard to question, and it’s such a maze.” Pema’s eyes are misty with sympathy—no, _empathy._ Lin wants to snap at her, _how could you get it? You have a perfect life,_ but she shuts her mouth when she remembers.

_Right. Pema’s trans, of course she gets what it’s like to question your whole identity._

“I can’t compare my situation to yours. Mostly because mine is entirely personal and yours is… not as personal as you might like it to be. But I do understand,” Pema says as if reading her mind. A hoarse laugh bubbles out of Lin’s throat, easy like it used to be when she was younger.

“I know. I’m sorry for assuming you didn’t.”

“Don’t worry about it. Do you want to… tell me more about the whole thing? Hearing it out loud from your own perspective might give you the answer you’ve been looking for.”

“I…” The reply, ‘No’, is already on Lin’s lips, but she finds herself struggling to push it out. “I…”

Pema watches her, a spark of patience in her green eyes. Lin’s heart flutters, and the response that falls out is entirely different from what she wanted it to be, but it doesn’t feel wrong.

“Yes.” she breathes. Pema smiles and squeezes her hand—it’s comforting and makes Lin warm all over.

“Go on, then.”

“Well…” Lin exhales, looking down at her feet. “It was just another day at the police station. And then I get this report that there’s a robbery going on—Terra Triad, the friends I warned S—my sister over and over not to hang around with. And…”

The rest of the story flows like water, Lin talking like she never has. Pema listens, humming occasionally and adding “Oh,” and “What happened?” in places.

When Lin finishes, her eyelids quivering from holding tears back, Pema sighs and leans forward. 

“Is it okay if I give you a hug?” she asks. And Lin—despite herself—nods.

Pema’s embrace is as warm as the rest of her. Lin melts into the other woman for just a second and shuts her eyes to let the tears drop, relishing in the softness of Pema’s hug.

“Thank you,” she whispers, barely audible. If Pema hears her, she gives no sign of it, but Lin hopes that she isn’t imagining Pema’s arms tightening around her for a split second before letting go. 

There’s a comfortable silence between the two of them then. Lin doesn’t remember the last time she spent a comfortable silence with anyone (it was Suyin and they were watching the night sky together, just like now). Eventually, Pema breaks it, clearing her throat softly. A blanket of sorrow drapes itself over Lin’s shoulders, because of course someone like Pema wouldn’t want to spend more time with Lin the Lemon than she came for.

What she says, however, freezes Lin down to the core.

“Is it okay if I touch the scar?”

Lin’s eyes fly wide. Her breath flutters out of her chest like a gust of wind being pulled from her lungs and for a minute she has to wonder if Pema isn’t an Airbender to do that to her (but no, she and Tenzin aren’t related).

Pema smiles a little sadly. “It’s okay. I get it. I overst—”

“Yes.” Lin says, a bit too loudly and suddenly. “Yes, you can touch the scar.”

“O—oh,” Pema whispers. “Oh, okay. Thank you, Lin.”

_Thank you, Lin._ When was the last time someone said her name with so much tenderness?

Pema comes closer, and Lin’s heart almost skips a beat. The other girl’s fingers lift, then curl into themselves as she sets her hand down again.

_She’s decided she doesn’t want to. Who’d want to touch me?_ Lin thinks briefly— 

And then there are soft lips pressing to her cheek against the scar, more soothing and sweet than any healing salve. Lin gasps harshly, her face flaming red as Pema pulls away.

“I’ll just—go now.” Pema says awkwardly, her own cheeks pink. “Tenzin was wr—wrong and I really am an idiot. I’m sorry.”

Lin’s tongue is in knots as she watches Pema hurry inside. If her head was spinning earlier, now it’s whirling like a desert in the throes of a sandstorm. The only clear thought in the eye of that storm is this: _Perhaps Tenzin was the one I wanted to throw something at after all._

* * *

She thinks on the whole thing for another few days and then she acts, because Lin Beifong doesn’t sit around twiddling her thumbs. She tenders her resignation to the police, citing “dissonance in ethics,” and for once the look on her mother’s face isn’t what she cares about.

(She would’ve known if she looked that Toph’s expression was brimming with pride.)

When she returns home, Suyin is sitting at the kitchen table, a packed suitcase next to her. Lin sits down next to her and tries not to flinch when Suyin looks up at her with anger.

“You didn’t have to arrest us. We were just trying—” she starts, her voice like cut-up pieces of glass. Lin nods heavily—that’s what silences Suyin.

“I know. I fucked up.” she says. The admission makes her feel so much lighter. _I fucked up._ How those three words can change everything. 

“You’re not supposed to say—” Suyin starts. Lin cuts her off easily.

“I can say whatever the hell I want. I’m not Republic City Police anymore.”

“You’re… not?” Suyin eyes her dubiously.

“I quit,” says Lin. “Dissonance between my ethics and theirs.” Suyin snorts at all the pretentious wrapping of “fuck you” that’s so unlike Lin. 

“Su, I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I should’a thought about it more—should’a thought about it earlier.”

“You should’a,” Suyin agrees. But then her arm wraps around Lin’s waist, pulling her into a slightly uncomfortable side hug, and Lin’s scar twinges but it doesn’t hurt.

It won’t hurt ever again.

Lin goes to Pema’s house later that evening. She’s wearing her nicest leather jacket and a bit of eyeliner, but the makeup doesn’t give her any confidence the way most people say it does. Pema opens the door with a smile, and her face turns bright red when she looks at Lin. Lin thinks she’ll take that as a compliment.

“Oh,” Pema says nervously, “I… Lin.”

“Hi.” Lin says and immediately regrets it. _Stupid, stupid…_

“You… you look… good.” Pema stutters, and Lin’s heart flutters at just how _adorable_ she is. “What brings you here?”

“You.” Lin answers a bit shakily, deciding to get it over with. “Tenzin… may not have been entirely wrong, if I’m right about what they told you.” Pema blushes harder.

“Oh?”

“Was it about… you… liking me?” Lin asks, her voice a pitch higher than normal. Pema’s face turns even redder, if that’s possible. It’s all the confirmation Lin needs.

“I—” she starts. Lin shakes her head, smiling.

“I came here to ask if you would mind… going out for dinner, sometime. Just the two of us.” she says, confidence surging inside her.

“Just the two of us?” Pema repeats. It's only then that Lin notices her hair is messy and she’s in home-clothes—some pants and a long top. But she’s still as radiant as ever.

As she always has been, in Lin’s eyes.

“Yeah.” Lin says. “That is—if you don’t mind?”

“Don’t mind?” Pema says hoarsely. “I would _love_ to.”

Lin grins. “It’s a date.”

“A date.” Pema whispers. “Okay. When?”

“...now?” Lin offers. Pema smiles.

“I’ll go get changed.”

“Wait a second,” Lin says, impulse getting the better of her before she can think. Pema pauses, her mouth open in the prettiest way.

Lin leans forward and takes Pema’s head gently, pressing the other woman’s lips to her scar.

“Thank you, Pema.” she says honestly. Pema flushes again.

“Of course, Lin.”

**Author's Note:**

> okay i promise the cops get dismantled soon. with TWO rebel daughters toph can't close her eyes anymore (also i have some backstory for why she became a cop so-)  
> comments make a blob happy~


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